Instructions: In the morning, take turkey from the refrigerator, rinse in the sink under cool water, and remove the giblets from the cavities. Discard all but the heart and the neck. Put the heart and neck in a pan with lots of water and simmer on low heat. Add more water if it gets low.

Make Bread Stuffing. Take day old bread (not toasted). One loaf should do it. Break it up into bite-size pieces. In a large skillet; combine 1/2 pound of butter (unsalted), 3 chopped leeks, 2 tsp. dried sage, and 5 stalks of celery, chopped. Heat on very low heat only until the butter melts. Put a bunch of parsley into the blender and chop it fine. Add the parsley to the skillet. Add the bread pieces and 4 jumbo eggs and stir until well mixed. AddEa half cup of the water from the simmering giblets a little at a time, to moisten the stuffing.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stuff both cavities of the bird (Loosely). Sew openings shut with regular needle and thread. In the bottom of an uncovered roaster, put 10 peeled cloves of garlic, carrot, bay leaves and basil. Put the turkey, breast side up, on top of these.

Take a clean piece of white cotton (I always use an old t-shirt), and cut it to cover the breast of the turkey. Soak it in melted butter (enough to completely saturate the cloth) and cover the turkey breast with it.

Put the turkey in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Every 15 minutes, baste the turkey with the water with the giblets simmering in it.

It should take around 3-4 hours to cook through. One hour before the bird will be done, remove the butter-soaked cloth and brush the top of the bird with olive oil.

When it is done, take the turkey out of the pan and put the veggies and cooking juices into the blender. Put the turkey back in the roaster and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Pulse the stuff in the blender until it makes a thin sauce. Take the liquid from the blender and put it in a small pot. If theres not enough, augment it with the water with the giblets simmering in it. In a separate container mix 1 cup of very cold milk with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Pour this into your sauce and heat slowly until it reaches a low boil. Let boil for one minute.

Put the turkey on the platter, cut open the thread and put the stuffing into a separate bowl. Put the gravy into the gravy boat and serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

This way of cooking the bird takes about two hours to get it into the oven. After that you only have to baste it every 15-20 minutes.

DONT put a cover over the bird or it will be mushy.

Barb Says: Our family uses this for Thanksgiving and CHRISTmas. Mom doesnt eat turkey so we also have a sugar cured ham for her.

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